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Page 6 - STAR - Tels: 626-8822 & 804-4900-Email:starnewspaper@gmail.com-Sunday, April 5, 2015Nothing Can Stop God’s Love for YouWhat Disciples DoBY: Thomas PujolContributed by: Janice Swift“Lord, who may dwell in yoursacred tent? Who may live on yourholy mountain? [The one] whokeeps an oath even when ithurts ” Psalm 15:1,4One of the biggest challenges ofbeing a Christian in modern, westernculture is that there are 100 seeminglyinnocuous choices everyday in whichwe can express faith in the true God,or a counterfeit.Some of these decisions arecomplicated, and involve mining thedepths of our motivations and sinfultendencies. Some are much easier, orat least simpler. I have seen manyyoung adults humming and hawingover a decision of whether to followthrough on a commitment or not,because of its cost. Perhaps we seeour commitment as negligible sincewe over looked certain details, or weforgot how things would preciselylook when it came time to followthrough.As Christians, we are to reflectChrist, and one of the things that Godemphasizes about Himself more thananything is that He is a God whokeeps His promises. And don’t thinkthat it was easy for Christ to keep Hispromise because He knew what itwould cost Him. Remember the dropsof blood in the garden? Rememberthat carrying through in a commitmentthat had unforeseen challenges in itdemonstrates your trust in Godseeing you through these challenges.There are times to apologize andadmit your failure when youcommitted to something unhealthy ordamaging in some way. However, weneed to consider the beauty ofChrist’s faithfulness in keeping Hispromises, what it would have meantfor us if He backed out because itbecame too hard, and seek to followin His footsteps. After all, isn’t that what a discipledoes?Father, Thank You for being 100%faithful in all of Your promises, so thatwe can trust all Your breathtakingpromises for the future. Please helpus to image You in our commitmentsto each other, whether big or small.Get Back to the BasicsBY: Rick WarrenContributed by: Janice Swift“For God so loved the world,that he gave his only begottenSon, that whosoever believeth inhim should not perish, but haveeverlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)God doesn’t want you to doubtyour salvation. He doesn’t want youto worry about it. He doesn’t wantyou to fear being without it. Hedoesn’t want you to wonder whetheryou’ll be in Heaven with him.God wants you to settle the issue.To do that, you’ve got to get back tothe basics. All great coaches focusedon the basics. They never assumedanyone knew the basics. JohnWooden always started training campby teaching his players the correctway to put on their socks! VinceLombardi started his training campsby famously telling his players, “Thisis a football.”The basics matter. If we weregoing to get back to the basics aboutJesus, we’d go back to John 3:16:“For God so loved the world, thathe gave his only begotten Son,that whosoever believeth in himshould not perish, but have everlasting life” (KJV).You could summarize the entireBible in that one verse. It’s the GoodNews in a verse.In fact, the very structure of theverse points to the Gospel. The verseis 25 words long. The middle word,the 13th word, is the word “Son.”That’s Jesus. The first 12 words areall about God — ”God so loved theworld, that he gave his onlybegotten.” The last 12 words are allabout you and me — “Thatwhosoever believeth in himshould not perish, but haveeverlasting life.” That is a pictureof the Gospel. The Bible says thatGod’s on one side, mankind is on theother, and Jesus Christ came to Earthto bring them together. He’s the bridgeover troubled waters. He’s themediator between God and man.Jesus came to bring God and ustogether.That’s the basics of the Gospel.That’s the most important message inthe history of the world. God sent hisSon to Earth to bridge the gapbetween you and him.You never know how Strongyou are until being Strong isthe only choice You have.-Bob MarleyMarleyBY: Holley GerthContributed by: Janice SwiftHere’s the reality: I’ve yet to meeta woman who doesn’t struggle withthe pressure to be perfect. Even theones who seem to have it all together.Maybe especially those who seem tohave it all together.I’ve personally wrestled with theneed to be “perfect” most of my life.The struggle began in my teenageyears when I realized there wereexpectations to be met in everyarea of my life—school, socialrelationships, and even spirituality. Ilearned to hold my true emotionsinside and perform so that I would beaccepted.On one particular day my boyfriendbroke up with me, and I feltdevastated. But I walked into my nextclass with a forced smile. Fortunately,someone loved me enough not to letme get away with it. A friend took meby the shoulders, looked straight atme, and said, “Holley, stop fakingit.”Although I made some progress, Inever really figured out how to stoptrying so hard in high school. By thetime I graduated, I had come tobelieve I could never live up to thestandards and expectations. So whenI went to college, I took a chain sawto the pedestal I’d been placed onand completely rebelled. I madepoor choices and ended upmiserable. Then I truly felt trapped. Ididn’t want to be perfect, but I alsoknew my destructive way of living hadto stop.God began relentlessly pursuing myheart in that in-between place betweenlaw and grace. He sent people intomy life who accepted me in all mybrokenness. He caught me when I fell.He revealed the legalism and liesthat had led me to this cage ofdesperation. I learned—or perhapsrelearned—that walking with Jesus isalways first and foremost about arelationship. My heart had begun toheal.Then I got married and began acareer. In my midtwenties myhusband and I decided to start afamily. Only it didn’t turn out theway we planned. Years of infertilityand loss led me to struggledesperately for control of my life. Ithought if I could just do everythingright, then surely God would give mewhat I wanted. But he didn’t. I fellinto depression, and he met meagain in that place. He showed meonce more how hard I’d been tryingto keep it all together. And in thatseason, I learned how love couldhold me together even when my worldfell apart.God has continued to peel backlayers of perfectionism in my life bitby bit. He’s restored me in moreways than I even knew I needed, andhe continues to do so. And he’s givenme a passion for seeing other womenget free too.Sharing our stories can be the firststep in healing. Scripture says,“We overcome by the blood ofthe Lamb and the word of ourtestimony.”Wash, Vaccum, Armoral& Engine WashAs Well As Pressure Washing Outside of Housesafepy and SWishing you a HapSafeHappEaster!!!We are located off Joseph Andrews Drive, near the Falcon Field inSan Ignacio Town.Call us at 824-2076 or 610-0408.E-mail: cleanmasterbz@yahoo.com

Sunday, April 5, 2015-STAR - Tels: 626-8822 & 804-4900-Email:starnewspaper@gmail.comCelebrating Easter In BelizeWith more than 80 per cent ofBelizeans professing Christianity,Easter is the single longest public andBank Holiday – from Good Fridaythrough Easter Monday. This is a 4day holiday when residents flee toneighboring Cancun, Playa DelCarmen and Chetumal in Mexico, ortake to the local beaches, river ornearest bathing pool. Schools areclosed for a full week starting fromthe Monday before the Easterweekend. Government, publicutilities and banks shut down atmidday on Holy Thursday, for fourand a half days making this one ofthe slowest periods for commerce.The weather is usually very hot, butat times a straggling cold front movesin over the Yucatan Peninsulabringing in clouds and pleasanttemperatures.The sale of alcohol is prohibitedthroughout the country on GoodFriday, a day when solemn religiousactivities are held including all-daychurch services and processionsre-enacting of the Passion of Christ.Regretfully, foreign tourism interestshave managed to erode Eastertraditions in certain areas such asAmbergris Caye by pressuring localauthorities to look the other way toallow the sale of alcohol on GoodFriday.Page 7Good Friday is one of the mostpeaceful days in the country. Minimaltraveling is done on this day as mostfolks either stay home to be with theirfamilies. Radio and television stationsbroadcast religious programs,including live coverage of the Pope’sGood Friday Message and theprocession around Rome’sColosseum to mark Jesus Christ’scrucifixion and death on GoodFriday.The most colorful and traditionre-enactment of the Via Crucifix isheld at the town of Benque Viejo delCarmen in western Belize. There,after an evening mass, the GoodFriday procession winds through thestreets of the little town where thecentral streets are decorated withbeautiful Alfombras De Acerrin(sawdust carpets). This SemanaSanta (Holy Week) tradition boldlyprojects the Spanish traditions ofWestern and Northern Belize and isgrowing in popularity as moreBelizeans in these areas embrace theirLatino Culture long repressed underBritish colonial rule that ended in1981. Re-enactments of the ViaCrucis are a growing practiceand attraction in several villagesin the Corozal and Orange WalkDistricts.

Page 8 - STAR - Tels: 626-8822 & 804-4900-Email:starnewspaper@gmail.com-Sunday, April 5, 2015Where is the BCWhite HairOne day, a little girl is sittingand watching her mother do thedishes at the kitchen sink. Shesuddenly notices that her motherhas several strands of white hairsticking out in contrast on her brunettehead.She looks at her mother andinquisitively asks, "Why are some ofyour hairs white, Mom?"Her mother replied, "Well, everytime that you do something wrongand make me cry or unhappy, oneof my hairs turns white."The little girl thought about thisrevelation for a while, and then said,"So, Momma, how come ALL ofgrandma's hairs are white?"That's OnceA couple was celebrating theirgolden wedding anniversary. Theirdomestic tranquility had long been thetalk of the town, and on this specialoccasion, a STAR newspaperreporter paid them a visit. She inquiredas to the secret of their long and happymarriage."Well," explained the husband,"it all goes back to our honeymoon. We visited the GrandCanyon and took a trip down tothe bottom of the canyon by packmule.""We hadn't gone too far whenmy wife's mule stumbled. My wifequietly said 'That's once.' Weproceeded a little farther when themule stumbled again. Once moremy wife quietly spoke: 'That'stwice.' We hadn't gone a half-milewhen the mule stumbled a thirdtime. My wife promptly removed arevolver from her purse, hoppeddown off the beast, and shot themule dead.""I started to protest over hertreatment of the mule when shelooked at me and quietly said,'That's once.'"The Story of Easter is theStory of God’God’ss Wonderfulwindow of Divine SurprisSurprisee- Carl KnudsonA rather old fashioned lady wasplanning a couple of weeks vacationin The Mountain Pine Ridge. She alsowas quite delicate and elegant with herlanguage. She wrote a letter to aparticular campground and asked forreservations. She wanted to makesure the campground was fullyequipped but didn't know quite howto ask about the "toilet" facilities.She just couldn't bring herself to writethe word "toilet" in her letter.After much deliberation, she finallycame up with the old fashioned term"Bathroom Commode," but whenshe wrote that down, she still thoughtshe was being too forward. So shestarted all over again; rewrote theentire letter and referred to the"Bathroom Commode" simply asthe "B.C.". Does the campgroundhave its own "B.C.?" is what sheactually wrote.Well, the campground owner wasn'told fashioned at all, and when he gotthe letter, he couldn't figure out whatthe lady was talking about. That"B.C." really stumped him.After worrying about it for severaldays, he showed the letter to othercampers, but they couldn't figureout what the lady meant either. Thecampground owner finally came to theconclusion that the lady was and mustbe asking about the location of thelocal Baptist Church.So he sat down and wrote thefollowing reply:"Dear Madam:I regret very much the delay inanswering your letter, but I nowtake pleasure of informing in thatthe "B.C." is located nine milesnorth of the camp site and iscapable of seating 250 people atone time. I admit it is quite adistance way if you are in the habitof going regularly but no doubt youwill be pleased to know that a greatnumber of people take theirlunches along, and make a day ofit. They usually arrive early andstay late.The last time my wife and Iwent was six years ago, and itwas so crowded we had to standup the whole time we were there.It may interest you to know thatright now, there is a supperplanned to raise money to buymore seats.They plan to holdthe supper in the middle ofthe B.C., so everyone canwatch and talk about this greatevent.I would like to say it pains mevery much, not to be able to gomore regularly, but it is surely notfor lack of desire on my part.Aswe grow older, it seems to be moreand more of an effort, particularlyin cold weather. If you decideto come down to the campground,perhaps I could go with you thefirst time you go.sit with you.andintroduce you to all the otherfolks. This is really a veryfriendly community.The Dish of Ice CreamAn elderly husband and wife noticedthat they were beginning to forgetmany little things around the house.They were afraid that this couldbe dangerous, as one of them mayaccidentally forget to turn off thestove and thus cause a fire. So, theydecided to go see their doctor to getsome help. Their physician toldthem that many people their age findit useful to write themselves little notesas reminders. The elderly couplethought this sounded wonderful, andleft the doctor's office very pleasedwith the advice.When they got home, the wife said,"Honey, will you please go to thekitchen and get me a dish of icecream? And why don't you writethat down so you won't forget?""Nonsense," said the husband, "Ican remember a dish of icecream!""Well," said the wife, "I'd alsolike some strawberries on it. Youbetter write that down, because Iknow you'll forget.""Don't be silly," replied thehusband. "A dish of ice creamand some strawberries. I canremember that!""OK, dear, but I'd like you toput some whipped cream on top.Now you'd really better write itdown now. You'll forget," said thewife."Come now, my memory's notall that bad," said the husband. "Noproblem, a dish of ice cream withstrawberries and whippedcream."With that, the husband shut thekitchen door behind him. The wifecould hear him getting out potsand pans, and making some noiseinconsistent with his preparing adish of ice cream, strawberries,and whipped cream. He emergedfrom the kitchen about 15 minuteslater.Walking over to his wife, hepresented her with a plate ofbacon and eggs. The wife took onelook at the plate, glanced up at herhusband and said, "Hey, where's thetoast?"Don’t Be ALitter Bug!!!

Sunday, April 5, 2015-STAR - Tels: 626-8822 & 804-4900-Email:starnewspaper@gmail.comPage 9Hon. Patirck FaberMinister of Education Youth and SportsArea Representative of ColletTakes this Opportunity towish All BelizeansEspecially those in theCollet Area a Blessed andSafe Easter!!!!Easter is a time to rejoice,Be thankful,Be Assured that all is forgivenSo life extends beyond the soil of the earth

Page 10 - STAR - Tels: 626-8822 & 804-4900-Email:starnewspaper@gmail.com-Sexually Transmitted InfectionsSexually transmitted infections(STI), also referred to as sexuallytransmitted diseases (STD) andvenereal diseases (VD), are infectionsthat are commonly spread by sex,especially vaginal intercourse, anal sexand oral sex. Most STIs initially donot cause symptoms. This results in agreater risk of passing the disease onto others. Symptoms and signs ofdisease may include: vaginaldischarge, penile discharge, ulcers onor around the genitals, and pelvic pain.STIs acquired before or during birthmay result in poor outcomes for thebaby. Some STIs may causeproblems with the ability to getpregnant.More than 30 different bacteria,viruses, and parasites can cause STIs.Bacterial STIs include chlamydia,gonorrhea, and syphilis amongothers. Viral STIs include genitalherpes, HIV/AIDS, and genital wartsamong others. Parasitic STIs includetrichomoniasis among others. Whileusually spread by sex, some STIs canalso be spread by non-sexual contactwith contaminated blood and tissues,breastfeeding, or during childbirth.STI diagnostic tests are easilyavailable in the developed world, butthis is often not the case in thedeveloping world.The most effective way ofpreventing STIs is by not having sex.Some vaccinations may also decreasethe risk of certain infections includinghepatitis B and some types of HPV.Safer sex practices such as use ofcondoms, having a smaller numberof sexual partners, and being in arelationship where each person onlyhas sex with the other also decreasesthe risk. Circumcision in malesmay be effective to prevent someinfections. Most STIs are treatable orcurable. Of the most commoninfections, syphilis, gonorrhea,chlamydia, trichomoniasis are curable,while herpes, hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS,and HPV are treatable but notcurable. Resistance to certainantibiotics is developing among someorganisms such as gonorrhoea.In 2008, it was estimated that 500million people were infected witheither syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydiaor trichomoniasis. At least anadditional 530 million people havegenital herpes and 290 million womenhave human papillomavirus. STIsother than HIV resulted in 142,000deaths in 2013. In the United Statesthere were 19 million new cases ofsexually transmitted infections in 2010.Historical documentation of STIsdate back to at least the Eberspapyrus around 1550 BC and theOld Testament. There is often shameand stigma associated with theseinfections. The term sexuallytransmitted infection is generallypreferred over the terms sexuallytransmitted disease and venerealdisease, as it includes those who donot have symptomatic diseasMain typesSexually transmitted infectionsinclude:* Chlamydia is a sexuallytransmitted infection caused by thebacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Inwomen, symptoms may includeabnormal vaginal discharge, burningduring urination, and bleeding inbetween periods, although mostwomen do not experience anysymptoms. Symptoms in men includepain when urinating, and abnormaldischarge from their penis. If leftuntreated in both men and women,Chlamydia can infect the urinarytract and potentially lead to pelvicinflammatory disease (PID). PID cancause serious problems duringpregnancy and even has the potentialto cause infertility. It can cause awoman to have a potentially deadlyectopic pregnancy, in which thechild is born outside of the uterus.However, Chlamydia can be curedwith antibiotics.* The two most common forms ofherpes are caused by infection withherpes simplex virus (HSV). HSV-1is typically acquired orally and causescold sores, HSV-2 is usually acquiredduring sexual contact and affects thegenitals, however either strain mayaffect either site. Some people areasymptomatic or have very mildsymptoms. Those that do exper

and Maya are the most commonly spoken languages. These are also languages that are rarely used in Wednesday, March 25th, 2015 at 10:00am at the Bliss Center in Belize City with over 500 students from the aforementioned schools in attendance. After the launch, links to view and download the videos will be available on the Special Envoy Belize .