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What if there were an enormous Christmas secret that was knowable, you could find it out, and it would be wonderful when you did, and you weren’t aware of it? That would be some secret wouldn’t it? You might not like somebody who knew something that would be good for you and chose not to share it, so that they kept it a secret, would you? Ever play a game of hide and go seek, and the other players all got together and left you hiding there? After a while you got suspicious and came “all-e-all-e ins that’s free.” and there wasn’t anybody there? Well this isn’t a secret like that, rather this is more like a fly that is on the wall of the Grand Canyon; you would need to know specifically which rock outcrop that fly was on, to the inch, in order to set your scope up to find it, wouldn’t you? This Christmas secret is going to be revealed to you, and so, in this brief writing that’s what we’re going to get into, the “how do I,” find this Christmas secret?

First we’ll talk about Christmas just a bit, because it is so important, before it happens, as it happens, and after it happens. Then we’ll talk about, in the next paragraphs, the Christmas secret and how you can find it before Christmas, during Christmas, and we hope, after Christmas, so let’s go?

Before Christmas happens things begin to change, in different cultures the world over, people begin to adjust to the idea that something really “neat,” really wonderful in terms of a holiday, is going to happen. Christmas is a world sized holiday, by the way, which, while celebrated differently, by style, takes place on the same day, December the 25^th. For some it’s just a recognition that the rest of the planet sees this day as significant; for most of those countries, however, it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ. It’s becoming, in America, and in many other countries, unpopular to state it so, which does not make much sense, given that all that Jesus ever did, no matter what else you may think, all He ever did was good for everybody! So in that He was so unlike so many other people, maybe that is why they have chosen to reject celebrating His birthday? But actually, my sense is that good people everywhere know that Jesus the Christ is real, was a real baby, actually lived here on earth, and really did do nothing but good the whole time He was here. If there’s a problem with Jesus the Christ, it’s probably not about Him at all, but about the people who say they know Him; but act like they don’t. People who are supposed to be loving and kind, but sometimes have a very odd way of showing it? Maybe if they weren’t like they are, people would be happier about celebrating their King’s birth? I don’t know, all I know for sure about Christmas is, it does change the world, each year before it gets here, the world gets ready for it, and if you are looking for Christmas, you might find it in that fact?

When Christmas day shines out, my heart rejoices, with so many other hearts, because it is the day in which Jesus the Christ, was born. Historically, maybe not, history is good to study, my preference is to believe that history is kept in the humans heart who knows love, and this day celebrates the birth of the Man who taught love, lived love; and is love. That to me is what Christmas is all about, but it really happens that morning because the night before we have a family tradition, which began when we were extremely poor, a year where we lost just about everything, and even our families health wasn’t good. That year both of us, the wife and I, were trying to think of something that we could do which would be good; we needed something good to take place, those were hard times. So I’d seen this clip of a movie called “A Christmas Carol.” several great actors who have since died, George C. Scott and Edward Woodward, to name a couple; were in it; it is an incredible movie, if you don’t have it, it’s worth the $5.00 it might cost to get it today. Anyway, in our state of down, somehow this movie seemed from the clip to be good, so my suggestion was, “hey, let’s watch it.” She agreed and so was begun the Christmas tradition of watching “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens. If I had a wish to be granted, like they do at the TED meeting each year, I wish every wealthy greedy world sized corporate pirate leader, who believed they had no need of Christmas, would get to watch this with us.

After Christmas things aren’t the same. Children who had hoped that Santa Clause, or, Saint Nicholas, Shengdan Laoren of Chinese name, JuiTomten of Sweden or others, can be found smiling. In fact this website: http://www.lone-star.net/mall/main-areas/santafaq.htm seems to be a pretty good one, for checking out Santa’s name, but back to the hoping, smiling, children; they are enjoying what Santa has left. Parents who have actually listened to their children and each other (these would be the 50 or so percent who aren’t getting divorced) are smiling inside, just a little, and that “just a little,” may be the about the only smile they get for a while. Things aren’t the same and that is certainly hard to dispute when such a large scale holiday takes place, Christmas doesn’t leave things the same, so if you are looking for a clue about the Christmas secret, that’s a huge one, things after Christmas change.

We’ve spent just a little time together about before, during and after Christmas itself, because nothing is like it, as a holiday, I don’t know one that world wide, has it’s power? New Year’s is celebrated world wide, but it doesn’t have the significance of Christmas and the secret which we are going to discuss, may be a fundamental aspect of why?

Now let’s go into the Christmas secret, because it can be found before Christmas, let me tell you how. You will need to find a quiet place, where you won’t be disturbed for about five minutes; this is going to be tough on you, so you will really have to want to know the secret, because you will need to find a quiet place for five minutes! Here you do nothing, shut off the cell phone and sit – still. Just sit still, for five whole minutes. While you are there ask your heart how many more hurts it can take before it breaks enough to realize that the hurt that you suffer must tell you something about your ability to take hurt? Ask your heart then, if your hurts are worse than the mother who watched her baby die yesterday; because it couldn’t get water. Water- not food, not medicine, WATER- now, ask your heart if you really understand what hurting is? If you will listen to your heart and be honest, you’ll realize that Dickens’s was right, and in the eyes of God “these may be of more importance than you ever will be;” and, we, you and I, and everyone, are letting it happen. It’ll be an interesting five minutes if you do it; and remain true to your heart, I guarantee it will affect how you look at suffering.

The Christmas secret however, is also to be found, by you, right there in the midst of the great times of great joy; you see, we need those, oh we desperately need them, here is why. When you are down, and those times will happen, even when you compare the depth of your down to the greater suffering of someone else; you need to be able to think about good Christmases and good times- its a way of keeping your balance with reality. The Christmas secret, begins in the persons heart, and so, for some, sadly, it’s gonna remain a secret, their heart, is, unfortunately, only a muscle that pumps blood; and that, is, one of the saddest realities of this world. The Christmas secret might have something to do with, changing that; if it is possible to change that heart with little feeling, to one that feels, the Christmas secret might bring it about.

After Christmas if your heart cannot change, the Christmas secret will help you in ways that you might not believe were possible, but all the time were. A very close personal friend who let other things get between us; realized, not too long ago, that “we don’t talk like we used to.” While I almost said, “
no duh,” I stopped my mouth, stayed quiet (like in the car), and listened, because what they said next was something that if your searching for the Christmas secret, will help you, they said, “so every once in a while, let’s just call each other, think we can do that?” You know I really do think we can, and somewhere I hear Charles Dickens agreeing with others “they’re getting close to finding the Christmas secret aren’t they?” What do you think the others say back to them about us?

This material is taken off a page from http://www.regillo.com/twittertools/
which seemed really cool to me, so you know what they say, Oh, you don’t?
THEY say, “good writers copy other writers stuff, great writers steal it outright!”
Emulation is the sincerest form of flattery, trust me when you hear me say
that a feller named Williger is…well…really, REALLY cool…at regillo…his co.

One of the greatest things about Twitter is it’s open API, allowing several different applications to enhance your experience in researching data or utilizing it’s services better with additional resources, depending on your goals. This list is continuously updated.
Pick of the week is DM Whacker a toolbar extension, allowing you remove spam in your DM box. Our Darren Williger stumled upon this when frustrated unable to read DMs from friends. Interesting (as always, use at your own risk) tool that’s proved helpful.
Data Analysis and Statistics
For business, it’s essential to be able to track your goals. These tools will not only let you measure your tweeting aspects, but you can use these tools to become more influential:
Twitter Analyzer: Easy to use and understand interface, very cool stats.
Twitalyzer: Rate your Tweeting influence and see areas to improve.
Twitter Grader: Discover your Twitter grade, local Elite, and new people.
Twitterholic: Check out top Twitter users and find out your stats on Twitterholic.
TweetStats: TweetStats offers a graphical analysis of your Twitter stats.
Twitter Friends: Measuring your Twitter conversations using Twitter Friends.
Twinfluence: Shows detail of influence based on reach, velocity, and social capital.
Tweetwasters: Find out how much time you and other users waste on Twitter.
Tweet-Rank: Discover which of your tweets earned new or lost followers.
Mr. Milestone: Get tweets when you reach follower milestones using this tool.
Mr. Landmark: Just like Mr. Milestone, you get notified about your landmarks.
Retweetrank: Learn how many retweets you and other Twitter users have.
Business & Finance
Use these tools to improve your business and finances through Twitter.
Chipin: Set goal and let supporters track the progress of fundraising campaigns.
Xpenser: You can Twitter your expenses to Xpenser and they will be recorded.
Twittertise: Track tweets and clickthroughs with this app for Twitter advertising.
TwtQpon: Create simple Twitter coupons for your business with TwtQpon.
CheapTweet: Get deals, sales, coupons and more on Twitter through CheapTweet.
Tipjoy: Like Chipin, Tipjoy offers social payments for cause, content, or people.
SalesTwit: Get contact management for Twitter with the help of SalesTwit.
Tweet What You Spend: Track your cash easily and effectively here.
StockTwits: StockTwits shares the investment discussions on Twitter in real time.
Follower/Followee Management
Delete spammers, unmutual followers, infrequent tweeters, etc.
DM Whacker: Tool for easily clean DMs based on keywords!
Tweepular: This site claims to help boost your Tweepularity.
MyTweeple: Tools to help you make more intelligent follow decisions.
Mutuality: Mass unfollow/follow tool – simple and effective.
MyCleenr: Sort friends by their last tweets, and get rid of the inactive accounts.
Twitter Karma: Tool lets you see avatars of followers/followees.
FriendorFollow: At a glance who is following or who you are not
Twitoria: Finding your friends that haven’t tweeted in a long time.
Buzzom: New kid on the block, includes adding new friends too!
Tweepler: Use Tweepler to organize tweeps based on followings.
Network Building & Management
Find more relevant Twitter users with the help of these tools.
Twitter Local: You can see tweets from Twitter users in a specific location.
Twubble: Expand your Twitter bubble, picking out new people to follow.
Follow Cost: This tool will tell you how much effort it takes to follow someone.
Just Tweet It: Find Tweeple, tools, Twitter bots and more through this directory.
SocialToo: Automates following and unfollowing people who unfollowed you.
TwitDir: Search people and explore categories including top followers and updaters.
Who Should I Follow?: You can get good recommendations for Tweeps to follow.
TweetWheel: Discover which of your Twitter friends know each other.
WhoFollowsWhom: Put up to 5 friends and see who they have in common.
Nearbytweets: Discover users in a specific area with the help of Nearbytweets.
Twellow: Find Twitter users in a specific industry using this service.
Mr. Tweet: A personal networking assistant, helping you find relevant followers.
Qwitter: Helps you manage your network by sending alerts when you are unfollowed.
We Follow: We Follow is a new type of list, helping you find targeted followers.
Information Gathering
With these tools, you gather information for market research, blog posts, or simple curiosity.
Tweetbeep: Setup alerts that will help you keep track of specific keywords.
TweetNews: TweetNews ranks stories based on the amount of related tweets.
TwitterBuzz: TwitterBuzz will tell you what’s being linked to the most on Twitter.
Tweetscan: Set up to make sure you don’t miss @replies, and to get search queries.
@myflightinfo: Use @myflightinfo to stay updated on your flight’s status.
Twitterverse: Check out archived timelines and tweets through Twitterverse.
Twitscoop: Twitscoop shares what’s hot on Twitter at any given moment.
Twitbuzz: Twitbuzz tracks the latest conversations as well as popular Twitter links.
StrawPoll: Use to make sharing your opinion as easy as sending an @reply.
Retweetist: This service ranks the hottest links being retweeted on Twitter.
Monitter: Get real time keyword monitoring on Twitter from Monitter.
Twitter Management
Save your time and cull your Twitter list with the help of these tools.
Future Tweets: Schedule tweets for different times in the future.
Summize: Retrieve information on Twitter quickly to search Twitter in real time.
Tweet O’Clock: Trying to reach someone? Find the best time to get their attention.
Just Signal: Set up a filter to get only the tweets that discuss the keywords you like.
TweepSearch: Search your followers for specific parameters.
TwitResponse: You can schedule the delivery of your tweets ahead of time.
TwitterSnooze: Put pause button on a particular user with Twitter Snooze.
Twitterless: Get notified when someone stops following you with Twitterless.
Twilert: Track specific keywords to receive alerts for using Twilert.
Tweetdeck: Helps you more efficiently follow the people you really want to.
Twalala: Mute button for people and topics you’re not really interested in.
Sharing Tools
Promote your business, connect with friends, share photos, and more with these tools.
Blip.fm: This allows you to share MP3 and Youtube music.
Tweetburner: Use Tweetburner to share links, and you can track their usage.
Twitpic: Simple to share mobile phone photos using your Twitter account.
TwitterHawk: Get targeted marketing on Twitter through TwitterHawk.
Acamin: Acamin makes it easy to share files on Twitter with your followers.
Glue: Post books, movies, restaurants and more links through Glue.
Ping.fm: This service will update all of your social networks at once.
TweeTube: TweeTube makes it easy to share videos on Twitter.
twiggit: Use this automated service to share the articles you digg on Twitter.
Twisten.fm: Share what you’re listening to on Twitter through Twisten.fm.
Organization & Productivity
These Twitter tools help make your life a bit more streamlined.
Jott: Tweet without having to type, transcribing voice message to Twitter.
Twittercal: Link Twitter and Google Calendar events and appointments.
Timer: Use Timer to get reminders through your Twitter account.
TwitterNotes: Organize your notes using Twitter with TwitterNotes.
Remember the Milk: Use Remember the Milk to update to do lists.
Tweetake: Back up your Twitter timeline for archiving and more.
Nozbe: Nozbe makes it easy to add and update your to do list on Twitter.
Toodledo: This popular to do list app integrates nicely with Twitter.
TrackThis: Send tracking number, and get messages on changes in location.
Joint Contact: Project management productivity on Twitter using Joint Contact.
Tempo: This time tracking tool allows you to send in updates from Twitter.
OutTwit: OutTwit will make it easy for you to use Twitter inside of Outlook.
Life Tools
With these tools, you can work on relationships, life tracking, and more.
DreamTweet: Log your dreams and nightmares, and follow dreams of others.
MyMileMarker: Keep track of your mileage every time you fill up.
21Tweets: 21Tweets offers personal coaching on Twitter.
TwtTRIP: Organize your travel plans and find other Twitter travelers.
Tweet Answers: Makes it easy to ask questions and get answers on Twitter.
Twtvite: Twtvite is a simple event organizer that will help you create a tweetup.
Vacatweet: Set up an autoresponder for your Twitter account with Vacatweet.
plusplusbot: Share when someone goes out of their way to help you to share.
TrackDailyGoals: Use with #dailygoals hashtag to keep track of your daily goals.
ConnectTweet: Combine the voices of your group or business ConnectTweet.
Tweeteorology: Find tweets about weather in any location through Tweeteorology.
Food & Health
Track your diet and health activities with these Twitter tools.
Qwitter: Update Qwitter to shame yourself into quitting smoking.
TweetPlot: Use TweetPlot to chart your food and fitness statistics.
Tweetwhatyoueat: Keep a food diary to track what you’re eating everyday.
gtFtr: Use the gtFtr tool to record your exercise activity on Twittr.
SugarStats: Track, monitor, and share blood sugar through Twitter with SugarStats.
FoodFeed: Twitter-based food log makes it easy for you to track what you’re eating.
Blogging
Bring your blog life and Twitter life together with these tools.
Add to Any: Get posts shared on Twitter by using with your WordPress blog.
TwitThis: Make use of this plugin to send Twitter messages about your blog post.
MyTwitter: Use the MyTwitter plugin to display your Twitter status on WordPress.
Twitpress: Twitpress will send out a Tweet every time you post a new blog entry.
TwitterCounter: Plugin to display the number of followers you have on Twitter.
TwitterFeed: Announce your blog post on Twitter with a customized message.

Please tweet drd4U if you can recommend enhancements to this list!

We don’t endorse anything on this page – use at your own risk – legal blah blah…

It was a quiet night, there weren’t any clouds out, the stars were overwhelming in their number and brightness, and it was still. No wind, very little noise, 1 A.M. in a small rural southern community. There in the stillness of that moment is when God, the supreme creative maker of all, chose to break into the life before Him, and totally astonish my humanity. The first impression He gave me had to do with finite resources, and infinite need. We aren’t handling those real well, which is where God kicked it off at, and then He did this amazing thing, He let me know that He knows that this is what we face and that I should begin to see the problem from another perspective. Now to my mind, at the time, that perspective seemed so, beyond, anything that would make sense, and yet, suddenly and with overwhelming power, God introduced me to just a smidgen of the sorrow that he handles, as the tears welled up inside me, the reality of people perishing for lack of needs being met, hit home with a full force. The second thing God showed me in that instant, is that He communicates with clarity to the human heart that is ready to understand the enormous amount of trust He has in us. Consider this from the Bible:

Please check MGR out

She truly has an amazing site. Now look, you guys know me well enough to know that I will really have to stretch to buy into what Tania is publishing about, BUT- one thing I love to precaution my friends about is; when we think we know better, we better know we don’t.
Folks do yourself a flavor and check out Tania’s blog, I can guarantee you that even if you don’t agree with her, it makes for some interesting reading. -Dana —hey, almost forgot, if you haven’t tried this one check it out: http://www.adeduline.org/b/MAR1/