Health

How To Talk About Mental Health

We’ve all been talking about it, but not enough.   We must talk about it I lost another friend to suicide recently. This friend’s struggles with depression, public failure and the stress of being a high-profile leader were all indicative of him being a high risk person. I keep asking myself what could have, and should have, been done better. Maybe he’d still be here if things were different.   “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ― C.S. Lewis   Even though it’s been a few months, I’m still […]

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What Stands in the Way Becomes the Way

I like you, open my email daily and find worthy writers’ devotionals and musings. I often click “delete” for lack of time. I remind myself that I should read my Bible first, then if I have time, read the ponderings of others. This week I came across famous quotes and stumbled upon a quote by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” I read it a few times, and the COVID virus came to mind. My mind rambled on like one kicking a stone along a worn path, and […]

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Preventing, Testing and Treating COVID-19

Whether you turn on the television, listen to the radio, pick up a newspaper or go online, COVID-19 is the headline. Questions about this relatively unknown coronavirus are dominating global communication as public health professionals worldwide are working diligently to protect patients, visitors, caregivers, staff and society as a whole.  Everyone shares some responsibility for the success of our combined efforts. While each of us can control only what is within our reach, the cumulative effect of our actions can have far-reaching and dramatic results.  Two crucial questions have overshadowed all others: Who is at risk and what can we […]

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The Pathway to Choosing Pixels over People: Pornography

The first known use of the word pixel was in 1965. The creation was from pic + element to form pixel. /piksel/ Google defines it as a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed. “The camera scans photographs and encodes the image into pixels.” Live the Life South Florida was launched in 2014. In 2015 we had about 800 people participate in one of our programs. All participants are asked to complete an anonymous evaluation of the class, and at that time they were asked to circle as many as […]

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Pain ≠ Suicide: Survivor Kristen Anderson Will Share Her Incredible Story on July 28

Whether it’s the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting, hurricanes or the more recent tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, our community has been through a lot of pain. However, pain does not equal suicide. Overwhelmed by wave after wave of emotional trauma, Kristen Anderson, author of Life in Spite of Me, Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice, no longer wanted to live. One January night, determined to end her pain once and for all, the seventeen-year-old lay across train tracks not far from her home and waited to die. Surviving her suicide attempt but losing her legs launched Kristen into […]

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Songs of Sorrow

“O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near… My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy… You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend” (Psalm 88:1-9, 13-18 NLT). American evangelical culture tells us that “good Christians” are joyful, happy, healthy, prosperous and positive. If one is sad or […]

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Perhaps We Have Just Gone Too Far

I don’t know how or why I started receiving a weekly summary of my cell phone usage, but I now receive breakdowns of the amount of time I spend on various apps. This little update tells me how much time I spend, or even waste, using various phone apps including Spider Solitaire and Sudoku… Yikes!   What, in your opinion, is the least “preached on” subject in America? What is the one subject that the least number of Americans really want to address in earnest? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I know that the subject of […]

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Faith-Based Organizations Helping Overcome Opioid Addiction

The nation is facing an opioid epidemic. In May, Governor Rick Scott declared a public health crisis in Florida. Opioid overdoses claimed 582 lives in Broward in 2016, nearly two each day, which is higher than lives claimed by car accidents or gunshots, according to Broward Sheriff Scott Israel. Fighting the Opioid Addiction A Community Action Team, comprised of 45 to 50 treatment providers, doctors, community organizations and enforcement officials, is working hard to find solutions. And in July, 82 drug dealers and traffickers were arrested during a three-day crackdown in Broward to help curb opioid abuse and the rise […]

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Defeating Depression

What is depression? It is the most common psychological problem faced by humanity. At some time nearly every human being suffers a season of depression as he or she journeys through this life. For some it becomes a lifestyle and condition that they rarely escape. But what exactly is depression? Depression is a deep feeling, attitude and thought process in which we are captured by a conviction that all hope is lost. Depression is hopelessness. It is defeat projected to every possible future moment. It is despair. Sadness is a response to some past or present loss. It can be […]

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Giving Up Childish Ways

“You’re acting like a child.” That statement will usually make any adult continue acting like a child. What is being referred to in such an allegation? It means we are acting out our emotions rather than verbalizing them. In so doing we are harming others or even ourselves. This is a major distinction between the mature and immature – emotionally act out or verbalize. In 1 Corinthians 13 the Apostle Paul deals with the subject of spiritual maturity in regards to our  motives in the use of spiritual gifts. The ultimate spiritually mature motive God desires is love. It is […]

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